freeview on my computer
 

hi i currently have a anolauge tv card i have tried to plug my old freeview box into this in the hope that it might work ! it failed :mad: so is the only way to get freeview via my pc is to purchase a digital card ? or ?

Re: freeview on my computer
 

You need a digital TV card. The Hauppauge WinTV Nova woudl do the trick, there may be others as well. You can get it in PCI or USB versions, depending on whether you want to open your PC case or not.

Re: freeview on my computer
 

any good links that yyou may have also i would not like to open her up !

Re: freeview on my computer
 

:confused: - once the digital signal is decoded, it should be output as an analogue signal - if it will display on an ordinary telly, it should work with an analogue TV card.

Re: freeview on my computer
 

Homealone is right. Make sure you have the right input selected for the card though.

If you do want to buy a digital decoder for your pc, then have a look at http://www.averm.co.uk/avermedia/ave...sb2.asp?show=2

Re: freeview on my computer
 

so you are saying that plugging in my freeview box to my pc should work ?

Re: freeview on my computer
 

yes, the card will only detect one 'channel', though, changing what programme is displayed on that, is done using the remote on the freeview box.

Re: freeview on my computer
 

so somehow i need to make my pc find the freeview box ..... grr i can even get channel 5 with my current card ? any tips for helping tune the box in ?

Re: freeview on my computer
 

ok, assuming you have a decent aerial plugged into the freeview decoder & the decoder is connected to the 'RF in' socket on the TV card, you should be able to run a setup routine, which includes the card doing a scan to detect which channels are available. As I say, it should only detect one 'channel' :)

Re: freeview on my computer
 

done that but it came up no channels detected :mad:

i cant even get channel five :mad:

Re: freeview on my computer
 

Have you checked the freeview box with a telly to make sure it is actually outputting a signal via the RF?

Re: freeview on my computer
 

does the tv card have an option to select 'antenna' or 'cable' - you could re-try the detection using the 'other' one. Otherwise something isn't right - does the freeview box work ok plugged into a telly?

Re: freeview on my computer
 

very good question i connected to a television via the rf cable and nothing but when i plugged in the scart lead it worked ok :erm: also did i mention it is a old itv digital box
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tried both of them

Re: freeview on my computer
 

surely the best way to out a digi box to a pc would be via composite connection? Use a scart to phono output via a scart splitter if your box only has 1.Picture will be loads better than having to go through rf

Re: freeview on my computer
 

has your tv card got composite & L/R phono input connectors - you could get a scart to composite converter, if it does. No idea why the RF lead won't work, though ....

<edit> nice to see Zingle agrees ;)

Re: freeview on my computer
 

Are you sure the box will output anything at all via the RF? If it won't then you are kind of stumped unless you can convert the signal from the SCART to an RF cable.

Re: freeview on my computer
 

if you cant get channel 5 then you have no chance of using the freeview box.


I had the same trouble.. i was going to use a freeview box in the bedroom but could not reiceve channel 5 (even with a booster)

So in the end i purchased a wireless sender and reciever works a treat, albiet i have to watch whats going on in the living room but hey you cant have everything..

Re: freeview on my computer
 

i have a hp media centre which has a ( s video socket )at the front ?

Re: freeview on my computer
 

is there no composite on the back? looks like a normal audio socket,if not you can buy adapters that turn scart to svideo and audio,check to make sure box will switch svideo, your digi box may have the same svideo connection on the back

Re: freeview on my computer
 

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will this from my box into the pc work you think

Re: freeview on my computer
 

Do you have the apropriate ports to plug the leads into on the TV card?

Re: freeview on my computer
 

mmmmm thats a good question like a say that the leads would plug in at the front of my pc

Re: freeview on my computer
 

And do the ports at the front connect to the TV tuner card at all? If not I can't see how the signal will be decoded by the card. What ports/ connectors do you have on the tuner card itself?

Re: freeview on my computer
 

the audio does not need to go into the tv card only the video,The audio and simply be plugged into sound card/ I/O via a stereo 3.5 mm jack to phono

Re: freeview on my computer
 

might be easier to get a dig card i suppose

Re: freeview on my computer
 

a dvb-t card will be a lot less bother, and the quality will be FAR better.

Re: freeview on my computer
 

Every digital tv card ive found is flawed. Worked on a medion media centre pc which would only find a portion if the channels. Now I am a good friend of a tv and ariel guy who fitted a proper wideband ariel on extended pole and the signal wa perfect. 2 digital stbs workperfect but the pc tv card pants, Medion was contacted and we were told (maybe blagged) that digital tv cards do not receive everything a stb does

In fact every tv card ive ever worked with has been pants in one way or another

Re: freeview on my computer
 

Maplin have an external digital terrestrial reciever for computers on offer this month....

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?...rce=3&doy=18m7

I can't say if it's any good or anything.

Just thought I'd mention it.

I'm tempted to get one for my laptop, but I'm not sure.

Re: freeview on my computer
 

That cable looks like a Pc to Tv cable. I use a similar thing to get svhs and left and right audio out of the laptop and into my telly box :D

Re: freeview on my computer
 

For that money you can buy a fully functional stb,plug that into a standard tv card using handymans scart. IMO this will give you the best overall quality/features/performance over any digital tv card

Re: freeview on my computer
 

IS there a scart lead that goes from scart to rf ?

Re: freeview on my computer
 

you do not want to use rf you want to use the svideo or composite

Re: freeview on my computer
 

I've got the pci version of that. It's great. No probs at all. It's well supported, and has bda drivers for mce or whatever.

err... nonsense.

the digital>analogue>digital conversion is obviously lossy. with a dvb-t card you record the transport stream, as broadcast.
you're looking at mssive capture filesizes if you want decent quality from capping.
setting up timers to record etc on a pci card will be far easier and more functional.
You can't timeshift on a STB. You CAN do it via the pc and an analogue cap card, but again the filesizes will be horrendous.

if you intend to record stuff onto a pc, get a dvb-t card/adapter. actually using an analogue capture method will lose quality. Sure, it'll **** on a vhs deck, but go digital!

Re: freeview on my computer
 

Like I said in my experience ive never had the same amount of channels as with a set box, If this was just luck on my part then I did say this in my post. So saying what I posted was nonsense is out of order cuz in my experience as I said in my post you only get half the channels with a digital pc card


The op has an analogue card your telling him to buy a new card when theres really no need. I mentioned the stb as an option. If he buys a digital card and it works then all well and done but as ive said in my previous posts on this subject it may not be as simple to set up as you make out
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Do you get all the channels on your tv card as you do on a stb?

Re: freeview on my computer
 

i get every channel off every mux, yes. different cards have more or less sensitive tuners. USB cards tend to be worse.

It was the same in my old flat too, so unless i've been REALLY luck with existing aerials, my card's a good 'un.

the only difference between a dvb-t card and an stb is that you'll get the TUTV channels with a STB.

a new card IS a necessity if he wants optimum quality and functionality.

it all depends whether he values being able to use it with a TV (which isn't impossible with a pc-based solution by any means) or whether he prefers the option of timeshifting, and pvr ability.

Re: freeview on my computer
 

you said it all there. Some cards have better tuners than others,say he follows your advice and unluckily buys a problem card he will be no better off,He has the hardware to try now and see if he is happy or not with the results

As far as im concerned the pvr functions on a pc are software based so any device be it a stb or a internal tuner can timeshift and use full pvr functions,also pretty much every gfx card has tv out so a media centre solution can be achieved with what he has now

Re: freeview on my computer
 

so you want to go analogue>digital>analogue? Ew.

if he's unlucky and gets a crap card, he can take it back and tell them it's crap. I had two before the one i settled for.

pvr functions are indeed software based, but it's a hell of a lot easier to timeshift a 4mbit dvb stream than it is going to be to timeshift an analogue-captured feed. bear in mind that there's virtually no cpu usage when writing a digital stream to disc, as opposed to heavy cpu usage when ENCODING and capping analogue to digital, not to mention the filsizes being way higher.